California’s slow but steady recovery continued last month as employers added 27,700 jobs and the state’s unemployment rate held steady at 7.4 percent.

July’s employment gain exceeded the 24,200 jobs that were added in June. More importantly, California added 323,600 jobs so far this year and has now added 1,371,500 jobs since the recovery began in February 2010, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday.

“Statewide and locally we’re generally staying the course we’ve followed for the past several months with solid year-over-year job gains,” said Robert Kleinhenz, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “There are more milestones we need to pass going forward, but we’re moving forward with steady gains. We should get back to a more normal labor market sometime in 2015.”

Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire both shed jobs in July, but the bulk of those losses were tied to education-related positions typically not filled during the summer months.

L.A. County’s unemployment rate was unchanged last month at 8.1 percent but was down from 10 percent a year earlier. The county lost 57,600 jobs in July, although 69,200 were added over the year representing an annual growth rate of 1.7 percent.

Los Angeles County’s biggest decline in July came in government, which lost 38,700 jobs. Local government educational services accounted for 88 percent of the decline, which equated to 33,900 jobs.

Education and health services followed, with a loss of 10,800 jobs. School breaks whittled educational services by 6,800 jobs and social assistance accounted for 3,800 of the 4,000 jobs that were lost last month in health care and social assistance.

The information sector lost another 3,400 jobs — mostly in motion picture and sound recording — and additional losses were seen in trade, transportation and utilities, wholesale trade, transportation, warehousing and utilities, construction, financial activities and manufacturing.

Nominal gains were seen in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services and mining and logging.

Year over year, professional and business services led the way with 27,600 new jobs. That was followed by job gains in educational and health services (up 18,800), retail trade (up 9,700), leisure and hospitality (up 8,600), construction (up 7,700) and motion picture and sound recording (up 7,400).

L.A. County’s manufacturing sector — an industry that has suffered significant losses over the years due to downsizing, outsourcing and businesses moving out of state where costs are cheaper — shed another 15,000 jobs over the year.

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That didn’t surprise Robert Reed. Reed owns Chamber Sheet Metal Inc., a Canoga Park business that provides sheet metal products to air conditioning contractors and others who require custom work.

“I used to have seven employees but now it’s down to just me, one guy in the shop and my daughter,” he said.

Reed said his business has been hammered by increasing fees, restrictions and mandates.

“Every time we turn around they are coming up with something new,” he said. “You get an agency that monitors air conditioning units and they are making new requirements so they can justify their jobs. That means companies have to put more into what they are doing when they install it in someone’s home. And with the economy and all the competition ... you can’t raise your prices. It’s just more money out of your pocket.”

Reed said his business is down by 50 percent.

“I would have been better off if I would have sold the business six years ago,” he said.

The Inland Empire lost 17,000 jobs in July and its unemployment rate jumped to 9.2 percent from a revised 8.4 percent the previous month. The 2013 rate was 10.9 percent.

Trade, transportation and utilities provided the biggest annual employment gains for the two-county region with 10,100 new jobs.

Additional job gains were seen in leisure and hospitality (up 9,400), educational and health services (up 7,800) and professional and business services (up 7,700).

Manufacturing lost 1,100 jobs.

Michael Macho, division president of BIS Computer Solutions in La Crescenta, said businesses are beginning to spend more for the information technology services his company provides as the economy gradually improves.

“A lot of times businesses will put off capital expenditures for things like new PCs or software,” he said. “But if they put it off too long that can catch up to them and be detrimental to their business. And the IT solutions we offer can make companies more efficient.”